A model for differentiating school shooters characteristics

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for developing a model for differentiating school shooters based on their characteristics (or risk factors) before the attack took place. Design/methodology/approach – Data on 40 school shootings was compiled from the National School Safety Center’s Report on School Associated Violent Deaths and media accounts. Content analysis of the cases produced a set of 18 variables relating to offenders’ characteristics (or risk factors). Data were subjected to Smallest Space Analysis (SSA), a non-metric multidimensional scaling procedure. Findings – Results revealed three distinct themes: Disturbed School Shooter, Rejected School Shooter and Criminal School Shooter. Further analysis identified links between these themes with the family background of the offender. Research limitations/implications – These findings have both significant theoretical implications in the understanding of school shooters and the crime in general. They offer potential for practical applications in terms of prevention and intervention strategies. A key limitation relates to the quality of data. Originality/value – This is the first study to develop a model for differentiating school shooter characteristics.

Crime location choices: A geographical analysis of German serial killers

“…However, it has been reported (Youngs, Ioannou, & Eagles, ) that specialisation is represented through expressive and instrumental offenders, although if this relates to geo‐behaviour remains unclear. It would be useful to examine the criminal narratives of these two groups of offenders as has been successfully applied in other studies (Ioannou, Canter, Youngs, & Synnott, ; Ioannou, Canter, & Youngs, ; Ioannou, Hammond, & Simpson, ; Ioannou, Synnott, Lowe, & Tzani‐Pepelasi, ; Ioannou, Synnott, Reynolds, & Pearson, ; Yaneva, Ioannou, Hammond, & Synnott, ). This would be in respect to their geographic profiles to ascertain if the lack of variation is geographic behaviour is consistent in their offender narrative.…”

The Criminal Narrative Experience of Psychopathic and Personality Disordered Offenders

“…If they are; then these items would be represented in similar regions and would provide evidence for distinct criminal narrative experiences in PD and psychopathic offenders. A number of studies from have found such MDS models to be productive in recent years (Ioannou, Canter, Youngs & Synnott 2015;Ioannou, Hammond & Simpson, 2015;Youngs, Ioannou & Eagles, 2016;Ioannou, Canter & Youngs, 2017;Ioannou, Synnott, Lowe & Tzani-Pepelasi, 2018;Yaneva, Ioannou, Hammond & Synnott, 2018, Synnott, Ioannou, Coyne & Hemingway, 2018).…”

Investigating the effects of age and gender on cowitness suggestibility during blame attribution

“…Furthermore, the study's large sample allows for the findings to be confidently accepted as a reliable representation of potential witnesses. The researchers acknowledge the significance of narrative theory within Investigative Psychology research (see Ioannou, 2006;Ioannou, Canter, Youngs, & Synnott, 2015;Ioannou, Hammond & Simpson 2015;Ioannou, Synnott, Lowe, & Tzani-Pepelasi, 2018;Ioannou, Synnott, Reynolds & Pearson, 2018). Thus, the authors propose that a fruitful direction for future research, in relation to the current journal's scope, would be to explore whether the personal narratives that eyewitnesses apply to their roles can influence the nature of their statements.…”